At the present time the wireless local area network (WLAN) technology is increasingly used coupled either to the asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) or to the satellite access network or even to the local radio loop, possibly to the fibre to the home or curb (FTTH/C).
The WLAN then represents a radio extension of an already existing network which is not necessarily a radio network but may be for example a TCP/IP network.
Thus by means of the aforementioned radio extensions a plurality of distinct users are enabled to access the same access point of the already existing network.
The fact that several users exist at one and the same access point then makes it necessary to resort to the management of the resources of the network. However, the procedures for sharing existing network resources then differ according to the types of access available.
In the case of ADSL networks, within the information system there are specific items of equipment, such as the access gateway to services situated in the command level or equipment, making it possible to centralise a certain number of data relating to the sessions of the network users.
For example, the Internet profile server is an additional module to the access gateway to services. This module makes it possible to associate the terminal of a client with the network offer under access conditions to which this latter has subscribed. The Internet profile server is constructed around a database containing a list of ADSL client terminals, network access conditions to which these latter have subscribed and authorised Internet access providers. The database of the Internet profile server is supplied and updated on the basis of data from the information system according to a file transfer protocol once per day. As for counting the communication units consumed, the access gateway to services stores in a table of its database the counting dockets which it received from the broadband access server (BAS).
Within the context of ADSL technology, nowadays several mobile or fixed user terminals can be connected simultaneously over one and the same access point to one and only one ADSL line. These users use one and the same subscription defining the access conditions, that of the user terminal which subscribed thereto.
In particular, regardless of these subscriptions and the access conditions relating thereto, the sharing of the transmission resources of an ADSL line is effected in an equitable manner among all the user terminals.
From the point of view of control of the network, authentication, authorisation and counting of the accesses and transactions, this control is carried out as if only one single user existed.
By way of non-limiting example, with reference to FIG. 1 one session each is mounted on the access terminal BA1, the user terminal TU1 and the user terminal TU2. These latter have been authenticated with the same identifier. The aforementioned user terminals share the pass band supplied by the subscription A1 and the corresponding network access conditions.
Likewise on the access terminal BA2 only the user terminal TU3 is authenticated. The user terminals TU4 and TU5 use the same session as the user terminal TU3. The pass band supplied by the subscription A3 is shared among the different connected user terminals.
In the case of hotspot-type networks, networks of the WIFI type, several user terminals can access the network using WIFI technology from one and the same access point but with different subscriptions and therefore different network access conditions.
At the level of the resources, the access point, ADSL access, rented link, etc., is shared in an equitable manner among all the connected user terminals.
However, CISCO have developed a system called CMX, for Cisco Mobile exchange, which has certain functionalities of distribution and sharing of the network resources. It is for example possible to establish rules enabling data streams to be routed as a function of the nature of the required service or application, real time application such as voice communication VOIP on the Internet or non-real-time application such as transmission of data. The aforementioned system necessitates significant provisions in the access network.
The fixed ADSL networks and the hotspot-type networks which are known in the prior art have the following drawbacks or limitations.
For the fixed ADSL-type networks, the operator does not have data relating to the capacity and to the resources of the network. Hitherto, there was no corresponding need since the network is dimensioned in such a way as to meet the needs of each user terminal. By the addition of radio access terminals such as WIFI terminals as extensions to the fixed ADSL network, complete data are not always available to enable the base network to manage the transmission resources of a broadband mobile network with small cells. The small size of the cells results directly from the technical characteristics of the WIFI terminals and of the regulations relating thereto.
In fact the parameters necessary in order to constitute a broadband mobile network including fixed accesses prolonged by wireless local area network access terminals, WIFI access terminals, are in particular specific data relating to the occupancy rate of the radio access terminals, to the radio access terminals accessible by a user mobile terminal, to the reception power of the user terminals, to the relative location of the users, for example.
Consequently, it is in no way conceivable to implement a dynamic management of the network resources in order to be able to optimise these latter. One single offer or condition of access to the network is implemented on one and the same radio access terminal. By way of consequence, the network resources are not optimised, the data streams being treated from the point of view of the network resources in an identical manner, independently of the real time or non-real-time application. A balance between the allocation of network resource and the intrinsic characteristics of this or that user terminal cannot be envisaged.
For the hotspot-type networks, the network resources are simply shared among the different users in an equitable manner. Although the idea of equitable sharing could cover a relative distribution of the network resources, it is not however possible to allocate more or fewer network resources to this or that user terminal.
For the CMX networks of CISCO, strictly speaking there are in existence no processes for distribution of the network resources among the user terminals connected to one and the same radio access terminal. Moreover, this solution necessitates a significant additional investment as well as modifications at the level of the access network.